DEIR EL-BALAH – According to health officials and the ambulance service on Saturday, at least 25 individuals lost their lives due to Israeli airstrikes and gunfire overnight, amid stalled ceasefire discussions and growing starvation among Palestinians in Gaza.
Most of the fatalities were caused by gunfire as people awaited aid shipments near the Zikim crossing with Israel, reported staff at Shifa hospital, where the deceased were taken.
Israel’s army didn’t respond to request for comments about the latest shootings.
Those killed in strikes include four people in an apartment building in Gaza City among others, hospital staff and the ambulance service said.
These attacks occur as ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas have stalled following the withdrawal of U.S and Israeli negotiators on Thursday, increasing uncertainty about the future of the discussions.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday his government was considering “alternative options” to ceasefire talks with Hamas. His comments came as a Hamas official said negotiations were expected to resume next week and portrayed the recall of the Israeli and American delegations as a pressure tactic.
Egypt and Qatar, which are mediating the talks alongside the United States, said the pause was only temporary and that talks would resume, though they did not say when.
Experts and U.N. warn of famine
For desperate Palestinians a ceasefire can’t come soon enough.
The United Nations and experts say that Palestinians in Gaza are at risk of famine, with reports of increasing numbers of people dying from causes related to malnutrition. While Israel’s army says it’s allowing aid into the enclave with no limit on the number of trucks that can enter, the U.N. says it is hampered by Israeli military restrictions on its movements and incidents of criminal looting.
The Zikim crossing shootings come days after at least 80 Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid entering through the same crossing. Israel’s military said at the time its soldiers shot at a gathering of thousands of Palestinians who posed a threat, and that it was aware of some casualties.
Israel is facing increased international pressure to alleviate the catastrophic humanitarian crisis in Gaza. More then two dozen Western-aligned countries and more than 100 charity and human rights groups have called for an end to the war, harshly criticizing Israel’s blockade and a new aid delivery model it has rolled out.
The charities and rights groups said even their own staff were struggling to get enough food.
For the first time in months Israel said it is allowing airdrops, requested by Jordan. A Jordanian official said the airdrops will mainly be food and milk formula. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in a newspaper article on Saturday that the U.K. was “working urgently” with Jordan to get British aid into Gaza.
Aid group the World Central Kitchen said on Friday that it was resuming limited cooking operations in Deir al-Balah after being forced to halt due to a lack of food supplies.
It said it’s trying to serve 60,000 meals daily through its field kitchen and partner community kitchens, less than half of what it’s cooked over the previous month.
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Magdy reported from Cairo, Egypt
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